A massive dumped sleet, freezing rain and snow across much of the U.S. on Sunday, bringing subzero temperatures and halting air and road traffic. Tree branches and power lines snapped under the weight of ice, and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the Southeast were left without electricity.
The were expected to continue into Monday followed by very low temperatures which could cause 鈥渄angerous travel and infrastructure impacts鈥� for days, the National Weather Service said.
Heavy snow was falling from the Ohio Valley to the Northeast, while 鈥渃atastrophic ice accumulation鈥� threatened from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.
鈥淚t is a unique storm in the sense that it is so widespread,鈥� weather service meteorologist Allison Santorelli said in a phone interview. 鈥淚t was affecting areas all the way from New Mexico, Texas, all the way into New England, so we鈥檙e talking like a 2,000-mile spread.鈥�
President Donald Trump approved emergency declarations for at least a dozen states by Saturday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had rescue teams and supplies in numerous states, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
In New York, communities near the Canadian border saw record-breaking subzero temperatures, with Watertown Fahrenheit and Copenhagen minus 49 F, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
Storm knocks out power and snarls flights
As of Sunday morning, about 213 million people were under some sort of winter weather warning, Santorelli said. Hundreds of thousands of according to , with Tennessee and Mississippi hit especially hard.
Some 12,000 flights were canceled Sunday and nearly 20,000 were delayed, according to the flight tracker . Airports in Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, North Carolina, New York and New Jersey were among those impacted.
Coping with the storm
Freezing rain that slickened roads and brought trees and branches down on roads and power lines were the main peril in the South. In Corinth, Mississippi, heavy machinery manufacturer Caterpillar told employees at its remanufacturing site to stay home Monday and Tuesday.
鈥淢ay God have mercy on Corinth, MS! ... The sound of the trees snapping, exploding & falling through the night have been unnerving to say the least,鈥� resident Kathy Ragan wrote on Facebook.
In Clarksdale, Mississippi, Sanford Johnson said enough snow and sleet fell that few motorists ventured out.
鈥淚 had to break it to my youngest daughter that the play date she scheduled likely won鈥檛 happen today. We have no plans on driving,鈥� Johnson said.
It already was Mississippi's worst ice storm since 1994 with its biggest-ever deployment of ice-melting chemicals 鈥� 200,000 gallons 鈥� plus salt and sand on roads, Gov. Tate Reeves said at a news conference.
He urged people not to drive anywhere unless absolutely necessary. 鈥淒o please reach out to friends and family," Reeves added.
In Nashville, Tennessee, Jami Joe, 41, feared her electricity might not last as ice-heavy limbs from oak and pecan trees continued to crash around her house. 鈥淚t鈥檚 only a matter of time if a limb strikes a power line,鈥� she said.
Because of icy roads, Josh Martin figured he and his wife, Misti, were 鈥渓ocked in鈥� for a while at their home on a steep hill in Columbia, Tennessee.
鈥淕etting in and out of the neighborhood is not an option,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淚 can get down because gravity will take me, but I could not get back up.鈥�
Elsewhere, deep snow 鈥� over a foot in a 1,300-mile swath from Arkansas to New England 鈥� halted traffic and canceled flights.
On Manhattan's Upper East Side, January Cotrel enjoyed the fresh snow on a block that always closes during snowstorms for residents to sled, throw snowballs and make snowmen.
鈥淚 pray for two feet every time we get a snowstorm. I want as much as we can get,鈥� she said. 鈥淟et the city just shut down for a day and it鈥檚 beautiful, and then we can get back to life.鈥�
Bitter cold makes things worse
The danger will continue after the ice and snow, Santorelli warned.
鈥淏ehind the storm it鈥檚 just going to get bitterly cold across basically the entirety of the eastern two-thirds of the nation, east of the Rockies,鈥� she said. That means ice and snow won鈥檛 melt as fast, which could hinder efforts to restore power.
In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at least five people who died were found outside as temperatures plunged Saturday, though the cause of their deaths remained under investigation. He urged people to stay inside and off the roads: 鈥淲e want every single New Yorker to make it through this storm.鈥�
Two men died of hypothermia related to the storm in Caddo Parish in Louisiana, according to the state health department.
Across the affected areas, schools and universities announced that classes would be canceled or held remotely Monday.
Recovery could take time
In Oxford, Mississippi, police appealed for residents to stay home. Utility crews were also pulled from their jobs during the overnight hours.
鈥淒ue to life-threatening conditions, Oxford Utilities has made the difficult decision to pull our crews off the road for the night,鈥� the utility company posted on Facebook early Sunday. 鈥淭rees are actively snapping and falling around our linemen while they are in the bucket trucks."
Oxford city officials posted dramatic photos on social media of slick roads and ice-coated trees sagging or breaking under the added weight.
In Tennessee, emergency officials urged motorists to give crews space to treat roads as drivers have been crashing into them.
Icy roads also made travel dangerous in north Georgia, where the Cherokee County Sheriff鈥檚 office posted on Facebook, 鈥淵ou know it鈥檚 bad when Waffle House is closed!!!鈥� along with a photo of a shuttered restaurant. Whether the chain鈥檚 restaurants are open 鈥� known as the 鈥� has become an informal way to gauge the severity of weather disasters across the South.
